Background

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls, the empowerment of women, and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security. Placing women's rights at the center of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States' priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

UN Women has begun implementing a new Strategic Plan (2018-2021) which outlines the Entity’s strategic direction, objectives and approaches to support efforts to achieve gender equality and empower women and girls. One of the strategic outcomes of the new Plan is to ensure that “Women lead, participate in and benefit equally from governance systems.” In Turkey, the new country strategy of UN Women - Strategic Note (2019-2022) - also prioritizes increasing women’s political participation and supporting the government to meet its commitment to gender equality through the development of gender responsive plans and budgets.

In order to advance women’s participation in decision-making and gender sensitive governance, UN Women has been implementing “Gender Equality in Political Leadership and Participation in Turkey” project since 2015. The project is implemented in partnership with the Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men (EOC) of Turkish Grand National Assembly (TGNA) and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and is financed by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA). The project is implemented in two phases, with a second phase taking place in 2019-2020. The objectives of the project are: -

- Legal frameworks and policies to advance gender equality and women’s right to participate in decision making are reformed/adopted and implemented;

- Women’s leadership and participation in politics is promoted by gender responsive measures (parliamentary mechanisms, processes and services);

- Legal frameworks and policies to increase women’s leadership and political participation are influenced by gender equality advocates.

The second phase of the project seeks to support women in various positions of leadership, with a renewed focus on women elected to municipal councils and in municipal government as well as media and continuing the work in the TGNA and with civil society. The project brings together gender equality advocates and women in leadership positions to encourage multi-stakeholder dialogues on issues that can advance gender equality and women’s empowerment at the national and local level such as the application of gender responsive budgeting (GRB) and gender sensitive governance. The project includes capacity development and training activities, advocacy and the exchange of best practices within Turkey and with women leaders in the region.

• In line with the requests of TGNA staff and parliamentarians, the Project will continue its support to building parliamentary capacity on GRB by delivering training and developing necessary tools for effective utilization of GRB within budgetary processes of the parliament and public sector.

Reporting to the Programme Management Specialist, the Project Coordinator will be responsible for coordinating the implementation and management of relevant project activities. This also includes coordinating relationships with national partners and stakeholders, regular monitoring and reporting on the results achieved to donor, overseeing the use of finances and budget implementation. The Project Coordinator will be involved in activities that include research and data collection, outreach, awareness raising and training, developing local strategies and encouraging monitoring of their implementation and will supervise Project Staff and consultants.  

Duties and Responsibilities

1. Manage the Women Political Participation (WPP) Project/Portfolio and provide technical support

• Manage the overall Project/Portfolio work plan development and implementation according to Strategic Note/ project document;
• Liaise with the Project Steering and Implementation Committee, national counterparts, donors, UN Women and partners to ensure the Project results are achieved and resources are managed;
• Prepare and present work-plans, periodic narrative progress reports and expenditures status reports to the Project Steering and Implementation Committee and UN Women;
• Establish systems for project planning, implementation and monitoring, in collaboration with partners;
• Record and maintain documents on relevant Project activities, issues, and risks.

2.Guide coordination with other UN Agencies, national partners and other stakeholders

• Manage relationships with national partners to support implementation and expansion of the WPP Project/Portfolio, raise potential problems and provide solutions;
• Provide guidance to partners on establishment of performance indicators, and monitoring achievement of results;
• Identify capacity building needs and support partners through technical assistance, mentoring, training, cross-partner learning, and capacity development initiatives.

3. Coordinate the monitoring and reporting on the WPP Project/Portfolios

• Gather and compile all information necessary for monitoring and reporting on programmes and projects from the planning to the evaluation stages;
• Monitor the implementation of activities and the expenditure of funds by partners; conduct regular monitoring visits;
• Write annual and quarterly reports; review and coordinate the submission of implementing partner financial and narrative reports;
• Provide inputs from WPP project activities and results to reporting;
• Coordinate and communicate on issues relevant to the WPP project/portfolio with local and national stakeholders and partners in Turkish Parliament, political parties, local councils and administrations, CSOs, media and experts

4. Manage financial resources and supervise staff

• Supervise and manage a team of professional and project staff, review performance and mentor/ coach staff;
• Coordinate development and preparation of financial resources of the Project including budgeting and budget revisions, and expenditure tracking and reporting;
• Oversee and monitor the allocation and disbursement of funds to participating partners.

5. Build partnerships and support in developing resource mobilization strategies

• Provide technical support to the development of partnerships and resource mobilization strategies;
• Identify potential programmatic areas of cooperation, based on strategic goals of UN Women, country needs and donors’ priorities and develop the relevant partnerships.

6. Advocate and facilitate knowledge building and management and communication

• Ensure documentation of the project implementation process and products produced are in accordance with UN Women guidelines;
• Contribute to the exchange of information and knowledge products internally and externally of the project;
• Organize major advocacy campaigns, events, trainings, workshops and knowledge products.

Key Performance Indicators

• Timely and quality implementation of Project/Portfolio activities against set workplans, timelines and budgets, in line with the Strategic Note
• Quality and timely reporting
• Strong relations with partners and stakeholders
• Regular and timely monitoring of activities 
• Timely and quality implementation of advocacy events in line with work plan
• Enhanced best practices and lessons learned documented and circulated

Competencies

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
• Accountability
• Creative Problem Solving
• Effective Communication
• Inclusive Collaboration
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Leading by Example

Functional Competencies

• Strong programme formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation skills
• Strong budget and finance skills
• Strong knowledge of Results Based Management
• Ability to synthesize program performance data and produce analytical reports in order to inform management and strategic decision-making
• Strong analytical skills

Good knowledge of UN programme management systems

Required Skills and Experience

Education and certification:

• Master’s degree or equivalent in public administration, law, human rights, gender equality, management, social sciences or other related areas is required.
• A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
• A project/programme management certification would be an asset

Experience:

• At least 5 years of progressively responsible experience at the national or international level in managing complex and multi-component programme interventions with national/international partners, preferably related to women’s political participation;
• Experience in coordinating, implementing, monitoring and evaluating development programmes and projects;
• Experience in implementation of women`s empowerment and gender equality programs are an asset;
• Experience on working with central and/or local decision-making mechanism and governance related issues will be an asset
• Previous experience working in the UN system is an asset.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English and Turkish are required;